To be nobody-but-yourself -- in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else -- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
~ e. e. cummings

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Birthday update

First of all, thank you all so much for the kind words and good birthday wishes. I have the most fantabulous bloggy friends in all of cyberspace!

Secondly, the birthday thus far has been splendid! Kiddo, usually a bit of a grump in the mornings, came bouncing out of her room super-cheerfully (I shall not point out this was at just minutes after 7am) today and wished me a happy birthday while leaping into my arms for a still-warm-and-tousled, not-quite-awake-yet hug. Then, of course, there were presents. In our house, presents are opened as soon as possible, in this case, before 7:30 in the morning. With Kiddo's enthusiastic present-unwrapping assistance, I was done before 7:40. Hubby gave me a new Bluetooth hands-free phone earpiece thingy to replace the one that has been only sporadically reliable for the past several months. (Seriously, I've been like some Bizarro World "Who's on First?" routine whenever I try to make a call with my old earpiece thingy:

And yes, I suppose repeatedly dashing it against the windshield isn't so good for it....)

Annnnyhow, new Bluetooth earpiece thingy about which I am most excited and planning to treat with kid gloves. Woot!

Also, Hubby scored us second row seats to the Disney on Ice show that is coming to town next month. !!! As in, second row off the ice seats. Kiddo is gonna blow her tiny mind and Mommy will be right there with her! (I'd actually forwarded a Ticketmaster email I'd gotten for advance sale seats to the Disney on Ice show to Hubby at work a few weeks ago, telling him I thought we should go. He immediately called me to say absolutely not because the tickets were just too expensive and it wasn't in the budget. I was seriously bummed. Turned out he said that because he'd already gotten the tickets a few weeks beforehand and was saving them for my birthday. Awwwwww.)

I also got a new iTunes gift card (of which I've already spent half on Christmas music for my iPod - finally I have the Andy Williams album on there that I owned in vinyl and cassette format but never had on CD so I couldn't copy it onto my iPod) and a lot of art from Kiddo. Not to be outdone, our crazy cat got in on the gift-giving by gacking up several hairballs and "sauce" in various spots throughout the living room. Hubby found and sopped up the obvious ones on the carpet (because *of course* she has to barf on the carpet, not the linoleum) but he missed the extra-special present location: right in/under my favorite fleece throw blanket and the afghan that was a handmade wedding present and all over my "spot" on the one couch. All down the arm and cushion where I traditionally sit. Covered. Much "sauce" soaked in and dried all over *just* the area where I sit. I felt so honored.

After all presents were opened and/or discovered, we had breakfast - Hubby made cinnamon rolls - and headed off to church, where Kiddo took advantage of being up in front of the entire congregation during the Children's Moment (and she always seems to sit right next to the pastor, and not just that but right next to the side of the pastor that is miked) to announce "Today is my mommy's birthday!" to the entire sanctuary. The pastor then asked her "and how old is your mommy?" and she told him, much to the general amusement of everyone. I couldn't hear what she said over the laughter, but I double-checked with the pastor afterwards and learned she got my age right, at least. See, she keeps switching the numbers in my age and has been insisting for the past few weeks that I was turning 73, not 37. Anyhow, there was someone else in the congregation celebrating a birthday today, only he turned 95, so I was a good 58 years away from being the most impressive celebrant. (The pastor had us all stand and sing Happy Birthday to him, which was cool.)

After church, we took ourselves to Macaroni Grill for lunch, which was so delicious and filling that Hubby and I wound up skipping dinner. Seriously, it is almost eight hours later and I'm still full. Of course, we had to have dessert, as the dessert ravioli (crumbled peanuts, caramel and chocolate in golden-fried pastries, served with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce) are too good to pass up:

Oh, so good, and they didn't even charge us for dessert because Kiddo let slip that Mommy was a "birthday girl" today. Plus, they had one of the waitresses come over and sing Happy Birthday to me in Italian (she is a voice student and was quite good) so you know, make a fuss over me and see if I mind.......

We were so stuffed from lunch that we postponed the fantabulous carrot cake until after dinner. Kiddo's dinner, that is - like I said, Hubby and I didn't eat. Well, we did each have a sliver of cake. I think I may be having carrot cake for breakfast tomorrow! Once we got home, we all changed into our jammies and curled up on the unsoiled couch to watch Polar Express. Good movie, though the DVD went wonky at a crucial moment towards the end, so we missed some key dialogue but wound up being able to figure out what we'd missed from the rest that came back after the wonkiness.

I also was thrilled to receive many a phone call from family and friends (Dad and Mom started the calls off this morning with a serenade followed by Dad's traditional retelling of the day they brought me home from the hospital - he gets really sentimental and I always get weepy; it is very sweet every year to hear the story again from him) though the best calls were when my nieces (ages almost-4 and almost-2) and nephews (ages almost-5 and just-2) left messages singing Happy Birthday. Well, my older niece was singing and my younger niece was sort of channeling Animal from the Muppets, just coming close to the phone receiver and sort of hollering "BIRTHDAY!" every so often. I totally saved the messages on the answering machine - so stinkin' cute.

And that, my dear readers, is the full recap of Heather's Birthday Adventures, 37th Edition. A few more gray hairs than the 36th Edition, as well as the start of what appear to be crows' feet and a knee that now impersonates a flamenco dancer's castanet whenever I'm walking upstairs, but still young at heart. Thanks again for the well wishes - I loved seeing my inbox full of your kind words! Hope everyone else had a fabulous day today as well!

I love Macaroni Grill. Did you know they even have one in Taipei? Just in case you're ever there and your dd is like my ds and eats nothing, you can still go there and get yummy goodness. I miss Macaroni Grill, that dessert looks fabulous by the way.

Polar Express is one of our favorites around here - you should get the book too since the movie is based off it. It's a great cuddle and read at bedtime book.

I'm so happy you had a good birthday (minus the cat). It sure does help the passing of another year doesn't it?

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About Me

I’ve been married to my best friend for over 20 years. Kiddo joined our family the same way I joined my family as a baby; through domestic, independent adoption. We live in western, upstate NY, though I’m originally a Jersey Girl. I grew up on a working farm (as NJ is the Garden State, after all). I re-entered the paid workforce a few years ago, after "opting out" to become a SAH mom back in '03, and am happily working part time for a nonprofit child & family services agency. In my pre-SAH mom life, I worked for a nonprofit in vocational rehabilitation for people with disabilities. That background has come in handy now that I have a kid with some special needs of her own. In the past 13 years, I've been learning how to navigate the world of parenting in this techno-internet age. I also read 3 or 4 grown-up books a week, volunteer (class mom, PTSA, Girl Scout troop leader, church), sing, watch too much TV, don’t get out to see nearly as many movies as I used to pre-Kiddo and spend (too much) time hanging out on the internet...